Zhang Hetong

TWENTY years ago on a day that was destined to be recorded in history, the friendship between Russia and China was sealed in ink as leaders of the two countries resolutely put pen to paper on the cooperation treaty and exchanged warm handshakes. The signed treaty is not a file permanently sealed in the archives, but the foundation on which the lasting friendship witnessed by the Chinese Eastern Railway and Beijing-Moscow Train K3 has been forged through the efforts of the people of the two countries. The treaty cleared the communication channels between the two nations, one speaking Sino-Tibetan languages and the other the Slavic languages, like a passage that breaks the seasonal cycles and brings together the southeast and northwest monsoons. It brought the people of the two nations closer, allowing the Altai Mountains bathed in the first beam of sunshine on the Ussuri River, and bringing the music of Kalinka from the Black Sea to Xunke County in north Heilongjiang.

The feelings of China-Russia friendship is in my blood.

When I was a child, Russia related to me as a record of old stories about my family. At bedtime, my grandmother would tell me stories about her childhood: stories about my grandfather in his youth, who spoke fluent Russian and often counted “foreign goods” from Russia; and stories about her Soviet neighbor who sold meat in the market during the daytime but was actually an artist of life who would stitch embroidery of chamomile flowers on a tablecloth. I’d always felt bored with the Russian Matreshka dolls on the bookshelf, without knowing that they were the most popular childhood toys of my parents.

Russia reminds me of a rabbit doll on my journey to the country, which gave me a taste of the close bonds of flesh and blood. As the green train went through fields with tall maize stalks, some children with high noses on the opposite berth, who were talking in a language with trilled R sounds that I didn’t understand, attracted my attention. We peeked at each other curiously. I felt that the remote country on the map was revealing itself in front of me in reality. As I saw a stuffed rabbit doll danced in front of my face, I came back to myself. Two little Russian sisters sitting opposite were smiling at me, offering the doll to me as a present. “Спасибо” was the first Russian word I learned.

Later when I was attending school, Russia was like a museum of moods that treasured up some of my most precious memories. After school, my friends and I would rush to the Gogol Bookstore in Harbin, searching for Gorky’s “My Childhood” with its folded pages marking where our readings stopped last time. On the weekends, I would open a bottle of Qiulin Kvass, eat a modern popsicle, cut a few slices of Huamei Dalieba, and sit on a bench in the Stalin Park enjoying the breeze until stars saw their reflections in the river.

Twenty years later, the treaty is revisited, and the efficient and expedited exchanges and cooperation between Russia and China have injected it with the blessing of a new era. I had never expected that Russia would go much deeper into my life than merely as a symbol. Now, I can communicate with my Russian friends in perfect Russian like my grandfather, read Russian books in the original language like conducting a heart-to-heart talk with Gorky without any obstacles, and discuss interesting connections between Chinese and Russian with my Russian sisters. I have ascended the Sparrow Hills, one of the highest points in Moscow, as a student from the Moscow State University and sat on the bank of the Neva River, listening to the pigeons’ birdsongs.

My товарищи and I will continue to compose and sing more beautiful songs together on China-Russia friendship for generations.

Winners of “China-Russia friendship in my heart”

First prize: Zhang Hetong from the Faculty of Philology

Second prize: Zhu Hongzhou from the Faculty of Engineering;

Лилия Мальцева (Maltseva Liliya) from the Chinese Language Center

Third prize: Li Dongyang from the Faculty of Engineering;

Yang Yaxin from the Faculty of Philology;

Анна Ванина (Vanina Anna) from the Chinese Language Center

Merit prize:

Chen Chiyu, Chen Zhuoyuan, Cheng Chengbian, Jin Lanjia, and Zhang Feiran from the Faculty of Philology;

Li Mengxiang and Wang Weiwei from the Faculty of Engineering;

Wang Zongyan, Provkian Polina, and Moskalchuk Ksenia from the Chinese Language Center